C4EO - for the sector from the sector
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Introduction
C4EO is building knowledge from a number of sources about how to improve outcomes for children.
The first stage – the Early Years Knowledge Reviews – assessed research evidence and national data on: the impact of disadvantage on outcomes for children;
the potential and practical possibilities for improving children’s learning outcomes through family-based support; the impact of integrated working on children’s development outcomes.
This resource reflects data from the Research reviews but will shortly be updated to reflect the latest publications in this area, the Early Years Knowledge Reviews.
The C4EO e-learning themes: Early Years; Disability; Vulnerable Children (particularly children in care); Child Poverty; Safeguarding; Families, Parents and Carers; Schools and Communities
Welcome to C4EO's e-learning resource on the Early Years – part of our remit to gather and share local, regional and national evidence of what works to improve outcomes in services, especially for the most vulnerable children, young people and families.
This resource tries to capture the main messages from the Research reviews on the early years around three priority themes that the sector felt were most pressing:
narrowing the gap in outcomes
improving children's attainment through a better quality of family-based support for early learning
improving development outcomes for children through effective practice in integrating early years services.
These main messages will probably not surprise you, since they link to the policy priorities that local authorities and partnerships have been working to since the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda took shape in 2004, and more recently, in response to the 2007 Children's Plan. In particular they reinforce practitioners' understanding that each child is unique and that attention needs to be focused on their progress in the context of all the relationships that they experience – known as an ecological perspective.
However the weight of evidence about the effects of poverty on children's outcomes, and the way in which it affects certain ethnic groups disproportionately may be new to you. We hope that this resource will be useful to you in your every day work alongside colleagues from health, social care, community development and other areas. It shows just how important it is to ensure that the links between child and family poverty, early health problems, ethnicity and the ECM outcomes for young children are understood by everyone. The activity (in the Narrowing the Gap section) on the impact of different background characteristics for children in relation to the ECM outcomes is a quick and vivid way of illustrating this point for practitioners across the board. The checklist of reflection points might also provide some material for discussion at team meetings.
About C4EO
C4EO's unique remit is all about 'gathering and sharing' evidence of what works. The research summaries on the C4EO website are supplemented by examples of validated local practice. Please check out these examples, and support our work through feedback and through sharing your local examples of effective practice. This way you can help us to continue to build the evidence base for effective early years work for the future.
– The authors
You can use the main navigation above to start working your way through this resource.
Early Years is the first of seven themes explored in this series of e-learning resources 
. It addresses the following priority
areas:
- Narrowing the gap in outcomes for young children through effective practices in the early years.
- Improving children's attainment through a better quality of family-based support for early learning.
- Improving development outcomes for children through effective practice in integrating early years services.